Longest-serving female inmate in Missouri has sentence commuted

VANDALIA, Mo. (KCTV) - Patty Prewitt, the longest-serving female prisoner in Missouri will be freed. Prewitt is among the nine commuttions from Missouri Governor Mike Parson on Friday. He pardoned 16 others.

Prewitt, a 75-year-old grandmother, was serving a life sentence for the 1984 murder of her husband in their farmhouse in Holden, Missouri. Bill Prewitt was shot and killed in his sleep. Patty said she was also attacked that night. Someone cut the phone lines and shut off the power to the house.

Investigators quickly zeroed in on Patty as the suspect and did not believe her account that someone was in the house. The murder weapon was eventually found in a pond on the couple’s land. Investigators believed a nearby boot print matched Patty’s boot.

READ MORE: Former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere has sentence commuted by Gov. Parson

Patty has long maintained her innocence. At one point, she was offered a plea deal, but she refused it. In a prison interview, Patty told KCTV5 Investigates she believed in the system and that she would be found not guilty. But Patty was the only suspect.

All of Bill and Patty’s children always believed their mother was innocent. They told investigators someone else was in the house the night of Bill’s murder, but the jury never heard that.

The case has been criticized for being sloppy and sexist. Lawyers have fought for decades to prove her innocence, In recent years, several Missouri lawmakers have pushed for her release to no avail, until Friday.

Having her sentence commuted does not pardon Prewitt of the murder conviction, but does grant her release.

ALSO READ: ‘Am I going to die in here?’ Missouri’s longest-serving female inmate begs Parson for clemency

Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.